INTERACTIVE DECISION-SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR ORGANIZATIONAL ANALYSIS

Quantification of important soft variables which affect the functioning of organisations is crucial for organisational analysis. Initially, only two of the many variables have been taken for analysis. A software interactive model has been developed to facilitate the analysis of organisational problems with specific reference to authority and responsibility issues. The graph theoretic approach has been used to model authority-responsibility relationships existing in the organisation. In line with the postulates of Physical System Theory (PST), managers at various levels are conceptualised as multi-terminal components interacting between the superiors and subordinates. The unit authority across any two adjacent levels is different and hence taken as an "across variable", whereas the responsibility flows through the organisation and hence taken as "through variable". The software has been developed based on microprocessor (PC) environment, using one of the most popular software package DBASE III Plus so that analysts can effectively use this package. To start with, this software has taken into account the basic requirements of data base creation, editing, query facilities, and generation and solving of equations. This software may prove to be of great assistance in analysing the existing or projected inconsistencies in the authority-responsibility relationships. © 1994.